NOONANS TO SELL THE PERSONAL JEWELLERY COLLECTION OF BARBARA CARTLIDGE – ONE OF LONDON’S POST-WAR PIONEER DESIGNERS, AND FOUNDER OF THE LEGENDARY ELECTRUM GALLERY

The personal jewellery collection of Barbara Cartlidge will be offered for sale at Noonans in an auction of Jewellery on Tuesday, June 23, 2026. Comprising 12 pieces of her own work, the collection is being sold by her family and is expected to fetch a total of £20,000-25,000.

As Frances Noble, Head of Jewellery Department at Noonans Mayfair, explained: “Barbara Cartlidge embodied the blossoming of post-war design talent in London in the 1960s and 70s. She was a pioneering jeweller who led the way for others, in particular through founding the groundbreaking ELECTRUM Gallery in London, which challenged the status quo of current jewellery design and championed upcoming designers, both nationally and internationally”.

She continues: “This sale is a wonderful opportunity for us to pay tribute to that talent and her huge contribution to 20th century design”.

Born to Jewish parents in Berlin in 1922, Barbara (neé Feistmann) spent her early life under the threat of the Nazis in Germany. In 1938, after completing school at the age of 16, Barbara and her family fled the country, first seeking refuge in Copenhagen and three months later relocating to Hampstead, North London. In 1944, Barbara met and married Derrick Cartlidge and they moved into a house in South Hill Park Gardens, Hampstead, which was to remain her home until her death in 2017.

Barbara was passionately interested in the arts and design and attended the Central School of Arts and Crafts (later St Martins) from 1957-60 where she studied jewellery. Having completed her course, she set up a studio at home and was soon taking jewellery commissions. With great prescience, she registered her brand in 1959, enjoying almost immediate success with a breakthrough solo exhibition at Heals in London in 1960, which attracted the attention of the fashion magazines Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.
In June 1971 Barbara and fellow jeweller Ralph Turner co-founded the Electrum Gallery at 21 South Molton Street, Mayfair, the first gallery dedicated to showcasing the work of contemporary, international jewellers and designers. It quickly became one of the most prestigious and influential contemporary galleries in the world for established and emerging jewellery talent, over the years representing many hundreds of jewellers. The Electrum Gallery established London as an international platform for artist jewellery, until finally closing in 2007.

In 1973, Barbara published her only book, Twentieth-Century Jewelry, and became a sought-after lecturer and teacher throughout the 1980s and ’90s. She was appointed Freeman of the Goldsmiths Company in 1978, and in 2016 Goldsmiths’ Hall held a special exhibition of her work during that year’s Goldsmiths’ Fair. Barbara’s pieces are held in many public and private collections worldwide, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

“Fairly often I make a piece of jewellery which I cannot sell because I am so attached to it – so my own personal collection increases all the time,” Barbara observed.

Among the highlights of the collection is an impressive bi-colour 18 carat gold collar and amethyst crystal pendant dating from 1970, which is estimated to fetch £12,000-15,000, while a silver and amethyst collar and pendant necklace, dating from 1966, is estimated at £1,400-1,800 and a 9 carat gold and citrine cuff bangle from 1966, carries an estimate of £800-1,200.